


Mind mash

by ActiveAgression



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe, Ianto's not part of torchwood, M/M, Retcon, first meetings over and over again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-13
Updated: 2016-12-13
Packaged: 2018-09-08 08:35:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8837746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ActiveAgression/pseuds/ActiveAgression
Summary: There’s this tidy little Welsh man who keeps popping up. Jack takes down a Weevil and there he is. Jack walks out of Torchwood headquarters and there he is again. Jack’s driving and he appears from the darkness in a suit and Jack only just keeps from running him over. He never remembers, but Jack does.





	

**Author's Note:**

> BEFORE ALL THE DEATH THAT MAKES ME WANT TO CRY EVERY TIME. And yes, i am still writing about torchwood. It's not that weird.

There’s this tidy little Welsh man who keeps popping up. Jack takes down a Weevil and there he is. Jack walks out of Torchwood headquarters and there he is again. Jack’s driving and he appears from the darkness in a suit and Jack only just keeps from running him over. 

He never remembers, but Jack does. He looks through the glass windows of Jack’s SUV and there’s no recognition. He scowls a little, ‘adorably’, Jack thinks but is quick to discard that thought. 

He doesn’t need a Welshman - he doesn’t need this one in particular even if he does keep popping up. He doesn’t want one. Yet every time he sees him, it’s like he never really left and Jack wants that - a little bit of stability. He blushes sometimes and Jack wants that too, despite himself. 

Jack goes out to a bar - first time in a long time. There he is. He smiles over the bar at Jack, not professionally but genuinely.

“Anything I can get you?” he asks with that accent and Jack can’t help himself. 

“I’m fine just enjoying the view,” he answers, ‘not sleazily’ he thinks, ‘but intriguing’. As crap as that may seem, the Welshman certainly seems intrigued until his brow furrows and he tilts his head consideringly. He almost looks like he recognises Jack, which is possible - considering last time they met is the only time Jack hasn’t retconned him. 

“You tried to run me over,” he accuses, “with that god awful SUV.” 

“You walked into the middle of the road,” Jack counters, leaning closer because despite the murder accusations - cute Welsh guy still seems interested.

And a little lost, “I was thinking,” he defends, “i’d just come from a funeral and there was this pterodactyl I had to deal with.” 

“Pterodactyl.” 

“Yes.” 

He seems serious, which would make him too crazy to sleep with usually, but Jack’s usually is a little different from everyone else’s. 

“Pterodactyl,” Jack repeats though, because he’s not at work and there’s no reason this Welshman should be dealing with any kind of dinosaur, flying or not.

The man shrugs, leaning conspiringly over the bar, “You know, at times it’s rather hard to hear a pterodactyl.”

“Oh?” 

“Yeah. It’s just they have a silent P.” 

Jack stares, waiting for the guy to start laughing at his own joke, or at least waiting for the guy to get upset about him not getting it (though he does). Instead he turns to a couple beside Jack and asks them what they want to order. 

A Welsh bartender who keeps turning up everywhere just told him a joke about Pterodactyl bathroom habits. It sort of feels like a joke itself. 

“Still don’t want anything?” he asks, brown eyes right there and Jack can’t help himself again.

“I’d love your name.” 

“I’d love it if you could guess,” the bartender replies, smirking, “but I know you would never get it.” 

Jack laughs, “bad name?” 

“I like it. Ianto,” he pauses to look Jack over again, eyes lingering on the coat of all things, “you have one?” 

Jack isn’t sure what possesses him to say it but, “I have many.” 

“Tell me your favourite then,” Ianto suggests, unperturbed. 

“Captain Jack Harkness,” he says, mustering as much bravado as he can into the delivery. 

Ianto looks delighted. “Sir,” he says, drawing the word out into a scandalous accusation. 

“Sir?”

He expects Ianto to get defensive or embarrassed, but he seems to be incapable of either. 

“Sir,” he affirms, something naughty in his eyes and Jack’s stomach lurches uncomfortably. He knows he shouldn’t, but damn he wants to. 

He does end up sleeping with that adorable bartending Welshman that night and retcons him in the morning. He doesn’t know why he does. He knows it’s immoral, but he does it anyway. 

 

It only makes the next time they run into each other far harder for him to deal with. 

“Myfanwy escaped,” he hears from behind him, voice familiar and he turns to find that same Welshman - Ianto - talking into his phone desperately. Of course. 

“What do you mean ‘you’re sure she’ll be fine’, she’s a Pterodactyl in modern Cardiff! It’s not the place or the time for Pterodactyl’s. She won't be fine!” 

“Pterodactyl,” Jack repeats because once more, he can’t help himself. 

Ianto turns to look at him, from the tips of his boots to the top of his head. “It’s a joke,” he mutters, turning back to his phone. 

“No it’s not.” 

Ianto’s glaring when he turns this time. “Yes it is!” 

“No it’s not. You have a pet Pterodactyl; not that weird.” 

“What do you know about Pterodactyl owning?” Ianto snaps. 

“Not a lot. But I can help you catch it,” he offers. Ianto stares and snaps his phone shut. 

“She,” he corrects, “and if you’re so anxious to help, follow me.”

It actually surprises Jack when Ianto leads him into a warehouse and there’s actually a pterodactyl there. He’d half been expecting sex, half expecting… well, sex. He knows he’s Ianto’s type after all, considering last time they’d met and Ianto’s been eyeing him like a piece of meat since they started walking together. So sex, he figures, was a reasonable assumption. 

Apparently not though. 

“She’s a little temperamental,” Ianto whispers, eyeing the giant sedative needle Jack’s holding. “Not even a dart gun?” he continues, “it’s like you aren’t a pterodactyl expert at all.” 

“I’m not.” 

“Great,” Ianto hisses sarcastically, suddenly much closer than he was before, “this is going to get me killed. You! You are gonna get me killed.” 

“Oh I’m sorry, where’s your special dinosaur catching gear?” 

Before Ianto has a chance to answer, Jack pushes the warehouse door open and rushes inside. He’s surprised, sort of, when Ianto actually comes in after him but he does and with a dinosaur swooping towards them, Jack yells for them to split up. 

He dives one way and Ianto runs the other, yelling the entire way. 

Myfanwy lands, facing the door and Jack grabs Ianto by the lapels of his suit - why is he wearing a suit? - and shushes him. 

“Here,” he calls out to the dinosaur, stepping towards her,“it’s okay. We’re not here to hurt you-”

“I’m not sure she can speak human,” Ianto deadpans behind him and Jack flaps his hand in response. 

“-but you can’t stay here. Come back with me, i’ve got somewhere nice and big you can fly around.”

“Hey,” Ianto interjects, “she’s my dinosaur.” 

“You let her escape!” Jack hisses back, not taking his eyes of the pterodactyl. 

“What exactly is your plan,” Ianto whispers, pulling at his arm even as he continues to approach. He sounds dubious which is fair considering Jack hadn’t even thought that far. 

“I’ll be the decoy-” he offers. 

“-and she’ll rip you to shreds,” Ianto counters. 

Jack gives him a silencing look and hands him the needle, “here you go. One injection to the central nervous cortex. I’ll keep her occupied.” 

Ianto eyes the needle skeptically, seeming to finally notice how massive it really is. 

“You overcompensating for something?” he questions and Jack almost - almost - says, “you know i’m not” before remembering -oh shit right, the retcon- and swallows his words awkwardly. 

“If you’re good, I’ll let you figure that out for yourself later,” Jack settles on, turning back to the prehistoric creature Ianto seems happy to ignore. “Now, move.” 

“No,” Ianto interjects before Jack even takes a step. 

“What?”

Ianto hands him back the needle, “She knows me. I’ll be a better decoy.” 

“It’s dangerous.” 

“Nah,” Ianto counters, “i’ve got a secret weapon.” He reaches into his suit pocket and Jack isn’t sure quite what to expect. Alien tech? Ianto certainly hadn’t seemed at all alien last time they’d met, and Jack had been very thorough in his investigation. But maybe. 

What he pulls out is rectangular and Jack barely glances at it, looking back at Myfanwy just as it registers what the object was and Ianto says, “Chocolate,” like that’s normal. “Preferably dark,” he finishes, already walking away. Jack doesn’t know how to respond to that. 

Jack doesn’t know how to respond to Ianto in general really. Ianto’s an interesting guy, definitely fearless - definitely seems unperturbed by the weird shit Jack deals with - great in bed and cute to boot. Jack just isn’t sure how to deal with that, the perfection that somehow keeps landing in his lap. 

When they inevitably end up in Ianto’s bed, Jack thinks he feels more with this Welshman who doesn’t know him than he’s felt with anyone. Too bad after Ianto falls asleep that night, with the promise of Myfanwy staying and the memories of the greatest sex he’s probably ever had, Jack takes them both away - cursing himself even as he slips the pill into Ianto’s mouth. 

He watches him swallow it and isn’t sure how to feel. 

He should probably stop using retcon on him though. He should probably just stay away instead. 

 

He tries and still runs into Ianto  _ six  _ more times. Every time it’s the same conversation about the damn SUV where he should have retconned the Welshman and then Jack seduces him, they have the most mind blowing sex ever and Jack retcons him. He keeps wondering more and more about the long term effects of retcon, but can’t bring himself to look it up. That would mean he’d have to acknowledge he’s maybe hurting Ianto and then he’d have to stop sleeping with him. 

Jack doesn’t want that. 

 

“I see… the bad moon rising,” Owen comments as they stand outside their campsite. Tosh squints at him, but quickly realises she’s the only one reacting and turns away. 

“Creedence Clearwater revival,” Jack comments so she’ll stop blushing. 

Owen sniffs disdainfully, “the remix of course.” 

“Of course,” a familiar Welsh voice says behind them. 

All at once, like some kind of league or boyband, they turn and there’s Ianto. He’s in a suit again and Jack can’t help remembering how he tore the last one off. 

“Who the bloody hell are you?” Owen snaps. 

“Just out for a walk.” 

“In a suit?” Jack counters, thinking maybe and finally that there’s a little more going on with Ianto than he’d thought. 

Ianto’s brow furrows and for a second he looks confused. “Aren’t you the fellow who almost ran me over in that god awful SUV?” he asks suspiciously, like it’s Jack’s fault Ianto’s out here with them. 

“Your fault really,” Jack responds automatically, “you wandered into the middle of the road.” 

His team look at him oddly and he pointedly ignores them. “Why are you out here?” 

Ianto blinks in a way Jack would only describe as adorable. “Must I have a reason?” he counters. 

“Yeah,” Owen tells him, as if he’s daft, “you do.” 

“Well, if you must know, I lost my pterodactyl and I’m trying to find her.” It’s so matter of fact that Ianto must be sure any normal person would take it as a joke. The problem is, his team isn’t normal. 

They all glance at Jack and Tosh has her ‘figuring something out’ face on. It’s a hard one to figure out though, as no one knows what’s been happening but Jack. Even Ianto doesn’t remember Jack helping him catch Myfanwy. 

“A pterodactyl,” Gwen asks slowly and Jack feels like if she somehow knew she would be murdering him in this moment instead. 

Ianto eyes her warily, probably wondering why she’s taking him seriously, “it’s a joke,” he mutters. 

“Sure, course it is,” Owen agrees amicably. 

There’s a harsh silence for way too long and Ianto probably thinks every single one of them is a freak. As he starts backing away, Jack realises he can’t retcon this meeting from his mind. The pills are something he’s begun to rely on and he feels a little lost without using them. 

“I’ll just be off,” Ianto says, smiling but cautious. 

The team kind of nod as one until Owen pulls his head out of his arse and calls, “see ya mate,” after him. Ianto nods back. The moment he’s out of sight the team turn on him. 

“Who was that?” Tosh asks, voice high. 

“And why does he know about Myfanwy?” Gwen adds, glaring at him like this is his fault. Which he supposes it is. 

“He just keeps popping up,” Jack answers simply. 

“How many times has he popped up exactly Jack?” 

“Somewhere around eleven,” he sighs. 

“Eleven? Didn’t seem like he’d met you eleven times Jack,” Owen continues, now glaring at him. 

“I retconned him every time but one.”

“You stole his pterodactyl!” 

“He’s a civilian,” Jack reasons, “he shouldn’t have a pterodactyl.” 

“Is he a civilian?” Owen asks and Jack should say yes because he’s done a very thorough background check and he  _ knows  _ he’s a civilian but at the same time, Ianto is everywhere and seems to know too much. 

“I’m not sure,” Jack admits. 

“Well you better bloody well find out if he’s going to keep ‘popping up’.”

 

“Torchwood,” Jack tells Ianto, sitting on the same barstool he had weeks ago. 

Ianto glances at him oddly. “I’m not sure that’s a drink,” he answers slowly. He probably thinks Jack’s drunk. 

“Nevermind,” Jack smiles and handily over the course of the night talks Ianto into bed instead. He thinks it’s becoming his favourite pastime but still he slips a single retcon pill into Ianto’s mouth as he goes. It’s almost a habit now. He’s starting to feel sick about it. 

 

After two months, Jack no longer feels sick when he feeds Ianto retcon pills like pieces of candy. It all feels so necessary now. He knows he’s become attached to Ianto but can’t do anything about it. How can he even think about starting something real with this massive secret treasure trove of meetings hanging over him that  _ Ianto doesn’t remember? _ Jack’s started kissing Ianto gently before he goes like a solemn goodbye because, though he knows he’ll see Ianto again, Ianto won’t remember. 

It’s always the same; 

“Aren’t you that crazy guy who almost ran me over with your car? And you’re camping buddies are an odd sort.” 

Jack laughs, agrees and spends so much time with Ianto, it feels like he’s living two lives. 

 

It’s been a year and Jack leaves the torchwood headquarters via the elevator, grinning at Myfanwy as she flaps about the ceiling. Ianto’s walking across the plaza, as usual, and startles visibly when he sees Jack. 

“Happy anniversary,” Jack mutters to himself as he strides over. 

“Aren’t you that lunatic that ran out into the middle of the road?” he asks, squinting and Ianto squints back. 

“You’re the fellow with the SUV,” he accuses and Jack laughs and asks if he can make it up to him. 

“Dinner maybe?” 

“It’s been a year. I’m sure it’s not necessary,” Ianto says but agrees anyway because he always does. 

Jack thinks about not retconning him, but sighs and does it anyway. He can’t stop himself.

 

The next day, Jack takes Ianto to bed again. Ianto once again thinks it’s the first time but he’s still loose from the night before and Jack realises the bed is starting to smell less like Ianto and more like  _ them. _

“You sort of feel like home,” Ianto admits sleepily. He realises what he said a moment after and sits up nervously. “That was stupid,” he laughs, “forget I said it.” 

“No,” Jack answers, “you feel like home too.” 

Ianto looks so happy and cuddles into Jack’s chest like he really has known him for over a year instead of the single day he remembers.

“I love you,” Jack says softly, “Don’t worry. I’m only telling you because you won't remember.”

The retcon goes down so easily. 

And Ianto, so sleepily, tells Jack he loves him too. 

He won’t remember. 

**Author's Note:**

> I love this, don't know why but hope you like, kudos and comment and all that.


End file.
